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Title:
METHOD FOR PROVIDING LOCATION BASED SERVICE USING EXTENDED DIAMETER PROTOCOL
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2009/022857
Kind Code:
A3
Abstract:
The method for providing Location Based Service LBS with extended Diameter messages in a Wimax network comprising steps of: a Location Server LS sending a location request to an anchor authentication entity Anchor Auth through an extended Diameter LBS Request DLR message; the Anchor Auth sending a Diameter LBS Answer DLA message to the LS, the message possibly including an ID for an LC serviced; the LS sending a location request message to the LC through a Diameter LBS Request message, the message possibly including information on an identifier for a target MS, a service type and a report mode; the LC sending an LBS measuring request to the LA; the LA sending an LBS measuring answer to the LC; Related LA performing location measuring on the target MS; the LA reporting LBS measuring results to the LC; the LC sending a measuring report to the LS through a Diameter LBS Answer message. With the method proposed in present invention, security of messages in interface R3 can be guaranteed. This method bears better backward compatibility. Therefore, with this method, new LBS is expected to be implemented by simply upgrading existing mobile Wimax network.

Inventors:
WANG CHUNHUA (CN)
LIU MEILI (CN)
Application Number:
PCT/KR2008/004705
Publication Date:
April 16, 2009
Filing Date:
August 13, 2008
Export Citation:
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Assignee:
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO LTD (KR)
WANG CHUNHUA (CN)
LIU MEILI (CN)
International Classes:
H04W4/029; G06C1/00; H04W4/02
Foreign References:
US20050070306A12005-03-31
US20080139220A12008-06-12
US20080108336A12008-05-08
EP1860455A12007-11-28
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
KWON, Hyuk-Rok et al. (1-96 Sinmun-ro 2ga Jongro-ku, Seoul 110-062, KR)
Download PDF:
Claims:

Claims

[1] A method for providing Location Based Service LBS with extended Diameter messages in a Wimax network comprising steps of: a) a Location Server LS sending a location request to an anchor authentication entity Anchor Auth through an extended Diameter LBS Request DLR message; b) the Anchor Auth sending a Diameter LBS Answer DLA message to the LS, the message possibly including an ID for an LC serviced; c) the LS sending a location request message to the LC through a Diameter LBS Request message, the message possibly including information on an identifier for a target MS, a service type and a report mode; d) the LC sending an LBS measuring request to the LA; e) the LA sending an LBS measuring answer to the LC; f) Related LA performing location measuring on the target MS; g) the LA reporting LBS measuring results to the LC; h) the LC sending a measuring report to the LS through a Diameter LBS Answer message. [2] The method according to Claim 1, wherein in step a), the Anchor Auth is obtained by the LS accessing AAA, or by presetting in advance. [3] The method according to Claim 1, wherein optional AVPs are included in the

Diameter LBS Request DLR message and the Diameter LBS Answer DLA message as table 1.

[4] The method according to Claim 1, to support the LBS application, the Application ID of diameter message header should be extended by adding LBS Application ID. [5] The method according to Claim 4, the application ID of the headers of the

Diameter LBS Request DLR message and the Diameter LBS Answer DLA message should be the LBS Application ID. [6] The method according to Claim 1, wherein in Step b), if Anchor Auth knows that the target MS is not in an ACTIVE state, the Anchor Auth sends a "paging a target MS" request to the Anchor PC. [7] The method according to Claim 6, wherein if the paging fails, the DLA message includes a Result Code for paging failure. [8] The method according to Claim 1, wherein in step b), if Anchor Auth knows a

BS-ID of the target MS, the BS-ID is possibly included in the DLA message and is send to the LS. [9] The method according to Claim 1, wherein in Step b), if Anchor Auth knows a

BS-ID of the target MS, and Anchor Auth entity is capable of mapping the BS

ID to true geography location information of a cell, and a Cell-ID-based locating method is in service, then in the Anchor Auth entity, the BS ID may be mapped to the cell's true geography location information including information on longitude and latitude, and true locations are reported to the LS through the DLA message.

[10] The method according to Claim 1, wherein in Step c), the report mode is "report only once" or "report periodically".

[11] The method according to Claim 1 or 10, wherein if the report mode is "report periodically", Steps e)-h) is implemented periodically till a preset report time period is reached, or till a message is received for requesting to terminate a location measuring process.

[12] The method according to Claim 1, wherein that in Step d), if the BS-ID is included in the LBS measure request message, and the Cell-ID-based locating method is in service, LS may translate a Cell-ID into corresponding geography location information after it receives the LDA message.

[13] The method according to Claim 3, wherein that in the attribute values in table 1,

"1" indicates that the corresponding Diameter LBS message must contain the AVP, "0-1" indicates optional, and "0" indicates that the AVP isn't included in the message.

[14] The method according to Claim 3, wherein that 19 AVPs are possible to be added for supporting a new LBS.

[15] The method according to Claim 6, wherein if Anchor Auth finds out that the target MS is not in the ACTIVE state, and it is necessary to initiate the paging process, the Anchor Auth reports a current state to the LS through the DLA message.

[16] The method according to Claim 6, wherein the paging process includes steps of: the Author PC performing paging for the target MS within its coverage; after the target MS receives the paging message, the target MS exiting from an idle state or initiates a location update process, after the target MS succeeds in exiting from the idle state or initiating the location update process, the Author PC obtaining BS ID information of the target MS.

[17] The method according to Claim 16, wherein that the paging process performed by the Author PC includes steps of: if the Author PC finds out that the target MS is not within the paging area, the Author PC no longer implements subsequent paging process but directly returning a message of "paging fails" to the Anchor Auth.

[18] A method of terminating periodical Location Based Service LBS comprising steps of:

a) a Location Server LS sending a "terminate LBS request" including an attribute value "Terminate" to a Serving LC/ASN GW; b) the Serving LC/ASN GW sending a "Terminate LBS request" to a LC/BS through a message R6; c) after a LA/BS receives the "Terminate LBS request" message, it terminates a process of locating a LBS for a target MS, and sending the "terminate LBS request" to LA/MS through an in-the-air interface; d) after the LA/MS receives the "terminate LBS request" message, it terminating relevant location measuring process and sending an answer message to LA/BS as a response to the LBS request; e) after the LA/BS receives the response message from LA/MS, it sending an answer message to the LA/BS as a response to the "terminate LBS request"; f) the Serving LC/ASN GW sending an answer message to LS as a response to the "terminate LBS request", and reports whether LBS has been terminated successfully or not.

[19] The method according to Claim 18, wherein in Step a), LS can send the

"terminate LBS request" to the Serving LC/ASN GW by including the attribute value "Terminate" in the DLR message. [20] The method according to Claim 18, wherein in Step f), the Serving LC/ASN GW can report whether LBS has been terminated successfully or not to LS through the DLA message. [21] The method according to Claim 20, wherein the DLA contains the attribute value

Result Code.

Description:

Description

METHOD FOR PROVIDING LOCATION BASED SERVICE USING EXTENDED DIAMETER PROTOCOL

Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method for providing Location Based Service

(LBS) processing in a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wimax) network. Background Art

[2] In a Wimax forum network group (NGW) conference, a draft has been admitted as the baseline document of Stage-2. The reference model defined in the baseline document for Wimax Location Based Service (LBS) in non-roaming state is shown in figure 1. On the point of view of function, a Wimax network architecture includes three parts such as a mobile station (MS), an access service network (ASN) and a connection service network (CSN). Here, ASN includes a base station (BS) and an access service network gateway (ASN GW). In general, an interface between MS and BS is called the in-the-air interface, which is denoted as Rl interface in the Wimax network reference model. An interface between BS and ASN GW is called interface R6, and the interface between CSN and ASN GW is called interface R3.

[3] In the reference model of Wimax LBS in non-roaming state, LBS-related modules include:

[4] (1) Location Server, (LS)

[5] LS is a functional entity in CSN. The relationship between LS and external LBS client is "client < — > server". And it performs authorization checking to external clients and MS requesting location information. In addition, LS also has the capability of location calculating.

[6] (2) Location Controller (LC)

[7] LC is used for determining and reporting location information for the MS and location parameters to LS, MS or other entities in ASN such as a radio resource management (RRM) module and a mobility management (MM) module. LC starts a location-related measuring process, and collects parameters necessary for location calculating to carry out the location calculating process once it receives any request from MS, LS or a module inside ASN. In general, LC is within the ASN. As for the distributed ASN, it is on the ASN GW.

[8] (3) Location Agent (LA)

[9] The main function of LA is to implement location-related measuring. Alternatively, it also can collect location-related parameters and report them to LC. The BS or MS or

both can bear the function of LA. If MS bears the function of LA, correspondingly, BS bears the function of LA as well.

[10] For the Wimax LBS network architecture, end-to-end message processing flow is illustrated in figure 2. It includes following steps:

[11] 201 MS or LBS client initiates an LBS by sending a location request message to the location server LS.

[12] 202 LA interacts with an authentication/authorization/accounting (AAA) module to check the information on authentication and security;

[13] 203 After Step 202 succeeds, authorization checking to MS and LBS client is performed in LS;

[14] 204 Since CSN connects with multiple ASN networks at the same time, it is necessary for LS to find a service ASN where the target MS locates and to allow LC in the service ASN GW to process the tasks;

[15] 205 After LS finds the service LC of a target MS, it sends a location report request to the service LC;

[16] 206 Implementing an ASN inner location specifying process;

[17] 207 After Step 206 succeeds, location information on target MS is obtained, and LC reports this location information to LS;

[18] 208 LS sends a location response message to a location demander (MS or LBS client), including true location of the target MS;

[19] 209 LS sends an accounting data refresh message to an accounting server to deduct the fees for this LBS from the account of the demander. This process is generally optional. For some special requests like emergency service, legal monitor, etc., it is not necessary to perform this process, for no fee may be paid for these requests.

[20] In Wimax fourm version 1.0 which relates to network criterion, Radius is regulated as a protocol for the interface between CSN and ASN GW. And it is possible to adopt a Radius enhanced Diameter protocol in the coming criterion version 1.5. Thus, a Diameter protocol is described briefly.

[21] DIAMETER is a scalable communication protocol. It's allowed by IETF AAA group to be applied as next generation of AAA protocol standard. Diameter protocol family includes a Diameter Base Protocol and all application protocols like a network access service (NAS) protocol, an extendable authentication protocol (EAP), a mobile IP (MIP), a cipher message syntax (CMS) protocol, etc.. With the development of application, it is easy to extend DIAMETER to support new applications. With DIAMETER, identification, authentication and accounting, etc. between and inside the IP multimedia network (which is safe and bears reliable transmission) can be implemented. This protocol is evolved from RADIUS with more flexible and detailed. It bears error recovery capability, operating over TCP/SCTP. Its modular structure

provides flexible base protocol, allowing scalability of specific application function. Diameter protocol supports tasks such as requests from MIP or NAS, and authentication, authorization and accounting for mobile agent. It is implemented through AVP (in the form of the triplet Attribute-Length- Value). Detailed failover mechanism has been regulated in this protocol. It adopts TCP protocol and supports distributed accounting. So it is the AAA protocol that is most suitable for future mobile communication systems. With the development of new application, it is very easy to extend DIAMETER protocol to support new applications.

[22] Diameter base protocol provides the most fundamental services like capability negotiation, error notification, etc., to applications such as Mobile IP, network access service and so on. Protocol elements are composed of a number of commands and AVPs. They may transfer authentication, authorization and accounting information between clients, agents and servers. However, either a client, an agent or a server may actively initiate a session request. And the other side responds to this request. Therefore, it is also called protocol between peer entities. The commands, AVP values and types may be extended according to the application requirements and rules.

[23] Diameter based protocol is the function that is necessary to be realized in all

Diameter network nodes, including capability negotiation, Diameter message's receiving and forwarding, etc. between nodes. Making full use of the message transmission mechanism provided by the base protocol, the application protocol regulates functions for relevant nodes and special contents of messages to implement application services.

[24] Peer connections (the socket connections) between Diameter's nodes are dynamically established based on TCP or SCTP protocol during a startup process of the nodes.

[25] After a socket connection, i.e., a peer connection, is successfully established, capability negotiation can be performed between two Diameter nodes, and information such as protocol version, application protocol that can support, the security mode and so on may be exchanged. Capability negotiation is implemented through an interaction between two Diameter messages a Capabilities-Exchange-Request (CER) and a Capabilities-Exchange-Answer (CEA). After capability negotiation, information such as applications that an opposite can support and so on may be saved in a high speed buffer. In this way, messages or AVPs that the opposite may not identify is avoided from transmitting to the opposite.

[26] To disconnect a peer connection normally, it is necessary for a Diameter node to actively initiate the Disconnect-Peer-Request (DPR) message. When the opposite receives this message and responds the Disconnect-Peer- Answer (DPA) message, lower level connection is disconnected. In the case (except the one mentioned above) of disconnecting a peer connection (e.g., network failure, system failure in one side,

etc.), it is necessary to ceaselessly try recovering the peer connection according to the settings of the timer when the abnormal disconnection comes across one side.

[27] Through a normal peer connection, all kinds of Diameter messages can be transferred. If an idle period (no message transfers) exceeds a preset time, a message of Device-Watchdog-Request/ Answer (DWR/DWA) is transferred between the two ends of the peer connection. Once abnormal happens to the transmission and receiving of DWR/DWA message, Diameter node considers that the peer connection fails and then tries recovering the connection or switches to a spare peer connection.

[28] It is necessary for a Diameter client (e.g., NAS) to support IPsec while to support

TLS optionally. However it is necessary for a Diameter server to support both IPsec and TLS. IPsec is primarily applied on traffic of the network edge and that inside the domain. Security of the traffic between domains is guaranteed through TLS. Therefore, the Diameter protocol bears higher level of security.

[29] Mobile Wimax (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in

USA , referred to as IEEE) 802.16e technology is based on fixed Wimax. Therefore, support to location based service is not yet considered in existing mobile Wimax standard either in physical layer, media access control (MAC) layer or network layer. However the location based service, viz. LBS, is also a significant service in a mobile communication network. Thus, the Wimax forum network group (NWG) has specified the requirements on LBS in the Wimax network architecture version 1.5 which is being established, and a LBS group under NGW is devoted to establish standard on Wimax network LBS. By far, a draft has been admitted as State-2 baseline document, in which only basic network architecture and basic end-to-end message processing flow on Wimax LBS are proposed, as illustrated in figure 2. There is no description on either a protocol stack of interfaces R3, R6, etc., or messages between interfaces, or particular content of the message, or a processing flow of operation between entities. And this is major contents on LBS necessary to be established in Wimax network architecture version 1.5 by NGW Wimax Forum LBS workgroup in the future. Disclosure of Invention Technical Solution

[30] In present invention, a protocol stack of interface R3 with extended Diameter protocol is presented. Meanwhile, two new diameter LBS messages with particular content (including attribute value) are well defined. Under conditions of adopting the messages, a method for Wimax in providing LBS are proposed in this invention. Moreover, this invention provides a method for terminating periodical LBS, and a related method of terminating periodical LBS with extended Diameter protocol. Thus, this is a major content on LBS necessary to be established in Wimax network ar-

chitecture version 1.5 by NGW Wimax Forum LBS workgroup in the future. [31] To achieve the object above, a method for providing LBS with extended Diameter messages in a Wimax network comprising steps of: [32] a) an LS sending a location request to an anchor authentication entity Anchor Auth through an extended Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message; [33] b) the Anchor Auth sending a Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message to the LS, the message possibly including an ID for an LC serviced; [34] c) the LS sending a location request message to the LC through a Diameter LBS

Request message, the message possibly including information on an identifier for a target MS, service type and report mode;

[35] d) the LC sending an LBS measuring request to the LA;

[36] e) the LA sending an LBS measuring answer to the LC;

[37] f) Related LA performing location measuring on the target MS;

[38] g) the LA reporting LBS measuring results to the LC;

[39] h) the LC sending a measuring report to the LS through a Diameter LBS Answer message. [40] With the method proposed in present invention, security of messages in interface R3 may be guaranteed. This method bears better backward compatibility. Thus, with this method, a new LBS is expected to be implemented by simply upgrading existing mobile Wimax network.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[41] Figure 1 shows a reference model of Wimax LBS network in non-roaming state;

[42] Figure 2 shows a end-to-end message processing flow;

[43] Figure 3 shows a protocol stack of interface R3 with extended Diameter protocol;

[44] Figure 4 shows a format of Diameter message;

[45] Figure 5 shows a format of Diameter AVP;

[46] Figure 6 shows flows of a method for providing LBS with extended Diameter protocol according to present invention; [47] Figure 7 shows flows of terminating periodical LBS with extended Diameter protocol according to present invention; [48] Figure 8 shows flows of providing CELL ID-based LBS with extended Diameter protocol when MS is in an IDLE state according to present invention; [49] Figure 9 shows flows of providing TDOA-based LBS with extended Diameter protocol when MS is in an ACTIVE state according to present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention [50] Figure 3 shows a protocol stack of interface R3 using extended Diameter protocol.

On the basis of Diameter base protocol, a Diameter LBS application protocol is added

in the protocol stack by extending existing Diameter protocol cluster according the characteristics of LBS application.

[51] Following two new messages are defined in the Diameter LBS application protocol: a Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message and a Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message. The format of the messages is the same as that of Diameter in RFC 3588, as shown in figure 4. A header of the message occupies 20 bytes with a first four bytes indicating information such as 8-bit information on version and 24-bit information on message length (including the length of the message header). The next four bytes indicate information such as 8-bit information on message flag bit and 24-bit information on command code. The command code corresponds to the command. The request message may share the same command code with corresponding answer message. Therefore, Diameter LBS Request (DLR) may share one command code with Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message. According to specification of IETF, new command codes and AVPs may be assigned by IETF. Thus, it is necessary to request new command codes for these two messages from IETF.

[52] An application ID, a hop-by-hop ID and an end-to-end ID in a Diameter message occupy 4 bytes with the application ID indicating the applications that this message is suitable for, the hop-by-hop ID determining a relationship between the request and the answer, and the end-to-end ID checking the repeated messages. To support the LBS application, it is necessary to extend the Application ID by adding LBS Application ID. That's to say, the application ID in the headers of the two LBS related messages LBR and LBA should be the LBS Application ID.

[53] As mentioned above, it is necessary to extend the command code and application ID for extending the LBS message header of Diameter.

[54] All bytes following the message header are payload of the message, which are serialized in the form of Attribute- Value-Pair (AVP). AVP is composed of header and data body, as shown in figure 5. The structure is: first four bytes are AVP codes, the next four bytes consists of 8-bit AVP flag and 24-bit AVP length (including the header of AVP). An AVP flag is used to notify the receiver how to process the attribute.

[55] Data content occupies the bytes following the header. At present, data types in AVP may be string, 32-bit integer, 64-bit integer, 32-bit float, 64-bit float, and AVP structure and so on.

[56] Table 1 shows possible AVPs and corresponding meanings of messages DLR and

DLA for LBS.

[57] Table 1

[Table 1]

AVPs in Diameter LBS Request/Answer message

[58]

[59]

[60] In this table, "1" indicates that a corresponding Diameter LBS message must contain the AVP, "0-1" indicates optional, and "0" indicates that the AVP may not be included in the message. The 19 AVPs from 0-User-Name to QOS Level in table 1 are extended for supporting LBS. And the 5 AVPs from Result Code to NAS- IPv6-Address are existing ones, which may be included in the Diameter LBS messages. With the development of LBS standard, it is possible to extend the other AVPs.

[61] With the above extended Diameter LBS messages, the method for providing LBS in

Wimax system primarily includes steps (with reference to figure 6) of:

[62] 601: LS checking if there is any peer connection established between it and the

Anchor Auth. If no, a peer connection is established according to RFC 3588; CER/ CEA capability negotiation may include the support to LBS applications;

[63] 602: LS sending a location request to Anchor Auth through the extended Diameter

LBS Request (DLR) message; the message possibly includes AVPs such as an ID of target MS that is to be located;

[64] 603: Anchor Auth sending a Diameter LBS Answer message to LS according to the state of the target MS. The message possibly includes such information as the state of the target MS;

[65] 604: Anchor Auth determining whether the target MS is in an ACTIVE state or not.

If yes, goes to step 607; otherwise, it sending a request of paging the target MS to the anchor PC (APC);

[66] 605: APC carrying out paging for the target MS within its coverage according to

Wimax NGW 1.0 criterion; after the target MS receives the paging message, the target MS exits from the idle state or initiates the location update process. After it succeeds in exiting from the idle state or initiating the location update process, APC obtains BS ID information on the target MS;

[67] 606: APC sending a paging result to Anchor Auth;

[68] 607: Anchor Auth sending information on the serving LC-ID and so on to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer message; If this message includes BS-ID, and the Cell-ID-based location method is in service, LS translates the Cell-ID into corresponding geography location information and sends to relevant LBS clients. If "report only once" is in service, the locating process finishes;

[69] 608: LS checking if there is any peer connection established between it and the serving LC-ID. If no, a peer connection is established according to the Diameter base protocol in RFC 3588;

[70] 609: LS sending a location request to LC through the Diameter LBS Request message, possibly including information on an ID of target MS, a service type, a report mode and so on;

[71] 610: LC sending a LBS measure request to LA;

[72] 611: LA responding a LBS measure response to LC;

[73] 612: relating LA performing measuring so as to locate the target MS;

[74] 613: LA sending a LBS measure report to LC;

[75] 614: LC sending the LBS measure report to the LS through a Diameter LBS Answer message.

[76] The LS, Anchor Auth and protocol stack in LC used for the flow above are illustrated in figure 3.

[77] In step 601, according to the characteristics of the Diameter nodes, each of nodes may at least support Diameter base protocol. In general, each node automatically establishes the peer connection according to configurations when it starts up. That's to say, the step is optional for a LBS processing process. Only when no peer connection exists between LS and the Anchor Auth, the step is implemented.

[78] In step 602, LS may search AAA for the ID information on Anchor Auth.

[79] Steps 603 and 604 are initiated by the same entity in LS. Therefore, their order of operation may be changed, e.g., first to implement step 604 and then to implement step 603;

[80] In some cases like that APC fails paging, etc., it is not necessary to perform step 603.

[81] In step 605, APC checks a database for preserved IDLE MS. If it finds that the target

MS is not within the paging coverage, it does not implement the paging process but prompt of paging failure in step 606. Accordingly, it prompts an error result code in step 607 to terminate this locating process.

[82] In step 607, if LC/Anchor Auth is capable of mapping BS ID to a cell's true geography location, it can first map the BS ID to the cell's true geography location information in LC/Anchor Auth, including the information on longitude and latitude. Then the LC/Anchor Auth reports it to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message.

[83] Step 608 is similar to step 601.

[84] If the MS is in an AWAKE state, the paging process in steps 604, 605 and 606 may be omitted.

[85] If the Cell-ID-based method is in service, processing procedures involved in steps

608 through 614 may also be omitted.

[86] Possible attribute values included in the Diameter LBS Request message and the

Diameter LBS Answer message in the steps above is illustrated in table 1. If necessary, other attribute values may be included.

[87] In step 609, if the report mode in DLR message is "report periodically", steps 612,

613 and 614 may be implemented periodically according to the Duration indicated by DLR message. If the DLR message in step 609 contains an attribute value of a report period, the periodical locating process terminates after the preset time period. For instance, the report period is set 1 hour, then after this period, LBS measuring and reporting process will terminate automatically, i.e., step 612, 613 or 614 will no longer be implemented periodically.

[88] If the DLR message in step 609 does not contain the attribute value for the report period, LS also may transmit an extra DLR message that includes attribute value "Terminate" to explicitly terminate the periodical report process of LBS.

[89] As shown in figure 7, a processing flow of terminating periodical LBS with extended

Diameter protocol primarily may include steps of:

[90] 701 LS sending a "terminate LBS request" that includes the attribute value

"Terminate" to a Serving LC/ASN GW through the Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message, the message possibly including information on an ID of the target MS.

[91] 702 The Serving LC/ASN GW sending a "Terminate LBS request" to LC/BS

through a message R6;

[92] 703 After LA/BS receives the "Terminate LBS request" message, LA/BS terminating the process of locating the LBS for the target MS, and sending the "terminate LBS request" to LA/MS through an in-the-air interface;

[93] 704 After LA/MS receiving the "Terminate LBS request" message, terminating a relevant location measuring process and sending an answer message to LA/BS as a response to the LBS request;

[94] 705 After LA/BS receiving the response message from LA/MS, it sending the answer message to LA/BS as the response to the "terminate LBS request";

[95] 706 The Serving LC/ASN GW sending an answer message to LS through a Diameter

LBS Answer (DLA) message as the response to the "terminate LBS request", and reports whether LBS has been terminated successfully or not.

[96] In step 701, LS sending the "terminate LBS request" through a request message on

R3 interface. If the extended Diameter protocol is applied here, RLR may contain the attribute value "Terminate".

[97] In step 706, the Serving LC/ASNGW sending the "terminate LBS answer" message through a message on the R3 interface. If the extended Diameter protocol is applied here, RLR may contain an attribute value "Result code" to notify LS whether the requested LBS has been terminated successfully or not.

[98] Embodiment

[99] The preferred embodiments of the method for providing LBS in Wimax network according to present invention are illustrated in figures 8 and 9. Firstly, flows and messages applied in the embodiments of the present patent are described. Although it is recommended to follow the sequence in the proposed LBS method through which messages are transmitted and received in the embodiments, the present invention is not limited, especially for the actions continuously operate in the same entity, i.e., an operator is not limited within the message transmission order regulated in the method of the present invention, but may select certain flows or some flows in certain flow according to a particular LBS and network, or properly adjust a transmission order for a certain message according to device or LBS operation state. Moreover, parameters included in the R3 interface messages applied in this implementation example are only for illustration. The operator may either adopt them selectively, or design other fire new ones or add some other ones. Furthermore, in present invention, no restriction is addressed but recommended to follow the rules on the selection (necessary or optional) of message parameters. The operator may make his/her choice according to the environment.

[100] As shown in figure 8, if MS is in IDLE state, the processing flow of providing

CELL- ID-based LBS in Wimax network with extended Diameter protocol primarily

includes steps that:

[101] 801: After LS receives a location request from either an external network or an external entity or MS, if this request comes from the external LBS client, it is necessary for the LS to perform authorization checking on the LBS client to determine whether the request comes from a legal LBS client or not, and then to perform LBS authentication to determine whether the requested LBS is a LBS agreed. If the location request comes from MS, LS directly performs LBS authentication, and then checks whether the demander bears is permitted to learn about the location information on the target MS or not. After the examinations above passes, LS maps the requested LBS to specific LBS quality of service (QoS), e.g., the precision range, response time, etc.

[102] LS checks if there is any Diameter peer connection established between it and the Anchor Auth. If no, a peer connection is established according to RFC 3588; CER/ CEA capability negotiation may include the support to LBS applications.

[103] 802 LS sends relevant location request information to the LC in Anchor ASN GW through the Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message. As illustrated in table 1, DLR message possibly contains AVPs such as type of LBS, a target MS ID, a source MS ID, upper and lower bounds of precision range for the requested LBS, a location information report mode and so on.

[104] 803 After LC receives the DLR message from LS, it interprets this message according to the format of a Diameter message. And it determines to adopt a CELL- ID-based location approach according to the interpreted precision range. Then it checks whether the target MS is in the IDLE state or not. If yes, LC sends an "initiate paging request" message to an anchor paging control entity (which is called Anchor PC (APC) in standard) through an interface R4. It is possible to add LBS related attribute information in this message.

[105] 804 After APC receives the "initiate paging request" message, it interprets and processes it and responds a paging response message to LC. If no information is found in APC for the target MS, the responded paging response message includes paging failure information.

[106] 805 LC sends the current processing state and result to LS by a Diameter LBS

Answer (DLA) message according to the content of the paging response message. The Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message may contain the state information for MS and the AVP Result code. If the paging fails, the Result code of failure returns and the locating process terminates.

[107] 806 APC sends a "paging notification" message to initiate the paging process. It is possible to add LBS related attribute information in it.

[108] 807 ASN sends the "paging notification" message to LBS through an interface R6, enabling BS to implement paging to MS. It is possible to add LBS relevant attribute in-

formation in the message.

[109] 808 BS sends the paging message to MS through the in-the-air interface;

[110] 809 After MS receives the paging message, it exits from the idle state or initiates the location update process. After it succeeds in exiting from the idle state or initiating the location update process, APC obtains the BS ID information on the target MS.

[111] 810 APC sends information on the target MS such as BS ID, etc. to Anchor Auth.

[112] 811 According to whether LC/ Anchor Auth may map BS ID to true geography location information on a cell or not, two processing methods are related here. If LC/ Anchor Auth is capable of mapping BS ID to the true geography location on the cell, it can first map the BS ID to the true geography location information in LC/ Anchor Auth, including the information on longitude and latitude. Then it reports the true geography location information to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message; otherwise, it returns the obtained BS ID to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message.

[113] After LS obtains the BS ID of the target MS and according to the true geography location of the deployed network, it maps corresponding BS ID to the true geography location information of the cell, including the information on longitude and latitude. Also the Serving LC may map BS ID to the true geography location information of the cell, including the information on longitude and latitude. Then the true location information is reported to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message.

[114] As shown in figure 9, if the MS is in the ACTIVE state, a processing flow of providing TDOA-based LBS in Wimax network with extended Diameter protocol primarily may include steps that:

[115] 901 After LS receives a location request from either an external network or an external entity or a MS, if this request comes from external LBS client, it is necessary for LS to perform authorization checking on the LBS client to determine whether the request comes from a legal LBS client or not, and then to perform LBS authentication to determine whether the requested LBS is a LBS agreed or not. If the location request comes from MS, LS directly performs LBS authentication, and then checks whether the demander bears is permitted to learn about the location information on the target MS or not. After the examinations above passes, LS maps the requested LBS to specific LBS quality of service (QoS), e.g., the precision range, response time, etc.. LS checks if there is any Diameter peer connection established between it and the Anchor Auth. If no, a peer connection is established according to RFC 3588. CER/CEA capability negotiation may include capability of supporting the LBS applications.

[116] 902 LS sends relevant location request information to the LC in Anchor ASN GW through the Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message. As illustrated in table 1, DLR message possibly contains AVPs such as type of LBS, a target MS ID, a source MS

ID, an upper and lower bounds of precision range for the requested LBS, a location information report mode and so on.

[117] 903 After Anchor ASN GW/LC receives the DLR message from LS, it interprets this message according to the diameter message format to determine whether MS is in ACTIVE state or not. According to the preserved information on the target MS, e.g., IDs of serving and ASN and LC, the current serving LD-ID is returned to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message. The message possibly contains attribute values such as the serving LC-ID, the ID of the target MS and so on.

[118] 904 LS checks if there is any Diameter peer connection established between it and the Serving LC/ASN GW. If no, a peer connection is established according to RFC 3588. CER/CEA capability negotiation may include the support to the exchange of LBS applications capabilities.

[119] 905 through the Diameter LBS Request (DLR) message, LS sends the related location request information to the Serving LC through the Diameter Peer connection. As illustrated in table 1, DLR message possibly contains AVPs such as type of LBS, the target MS ID, the source MS ID, the upper and lower bounds of the precision range of requested LBS, the location information report mode and so on.

[120] 906 After the Serving LC/ASN GW receives the "LBS request" DLR message from LS, it interprets this message according to the format of a Diameter message. And it determines to adopt the TDOA-based location approach according to the interpreted precision range. Then it sends the "LBS measure request" to LA through R6 to enable LA to start up TDOA and relevant measuring process. The "LBS measure request" includes information on the serving BS ID, the target MS ID, the source MS ID (optional), the measure type and report mode. Here, the measurement result can either be reported only once or reported periodically; the measure type can be:

[121] - the carrier to interference and noise ratio (CINR);

[122] - the Receive Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI);

[123] - the uplink DTOA measurement value (U-DTOA);

[124] - the downlink DTOA measurement value (D-TDOA);

[125] 907 After LA/BS receives the "LBS measure request" message, it interprets the message to determine whether the message is sent to the BS or not according to the interpreted BS ID. And according to the measure type extracted from the "LBS measure request" message, negotiation between MS and the BS is performed through the in- the-air interface to implement TDOA and a related measuring process. The related measuring process may be that the LA(s) in the BS and/or MS may implement TDOA and related measuring process. After TDOA and related measuring process are implemented successfully or unsuccessfully, LA/BS sends a "LBS measure response" message to the Serving LC through interface R6, the message including the BS ID, the

target MS ID, the source MS ID (optional), the measure response indicator. And the measure response parameters indicate whether the measuring process is implemented or terminated successfully or not.

[126] 908 After TDOA and related measuring process are initiated, it is necessary for the LA(s) in the MS and/or BS to implement related measuring.

[127] 909 LA/BS reports the measure results to the Serving LC with the measure report mode. The measure results include at least one of the following items:

[128] - CINR value of the cell (or the adjacent) marked by the BS ID measured by MS;

[129] - RSSI value of the cell (or the adjacent) marked by the BS ID measured by MS;

[130] - D-TDOA of the adjacent cell marked by the BS ID measured by MS;

[131] - The U-TDOA relative to the cell but measured in the adjacent cell marked by the BS ID.

[132] 910 After Serving LC obtains the TDOA and relevant measure results, performs some calculations by relevant formula, and combines the calculations with true geography location where the network is deployed, mapping the calculations to the true geography location information of the target MS, including longitude and latitude, etc.. After LC obtains the true geography location of the target MS, LC sends this information to LS through the Diameter LBS Answer (DLS) message, including LBS type, the target MS ID, the source MS ID and the obtained geography location information that consists of longitude, latitude and the geography location information's confidence, etc.. For possible parameters in the Diameter LBS Answer (DLA) message and corresponding details, Table 1 may be referred to.

[133] In the above processing flow, if the report mode in DLR message from LS is "report periodically", steps 909 and 910 may be implemented periodically according to the duration indicated by DLR message. This process may terminate after the preset time period indicated by DLR message. For instance, the report period is set 1 hour, then after this period, either LBS measure or report process will terminate automatically.

[134] LS also may transmit an extra DLR message that includes attribute value

"Terminate" to explicitly terminate the periodical report process of LBS, as shown in Figure 7.

[135] Interface R3 messages are primarily focused on in the present invention. Thus not all of the message contents, relevant message processing flow, or any other interface message format, etc. are introduced in detail. For instance, details on particular message for the interface R6 and the message content have been omitted. However, they may not be thought as restrictions for present invention.

[136] The examples above are implemented through signaling flow and message primitives based on factors such as the state of MS, two common locating techniques (e.g., CELL ID and TDOA). If other locating techniques like fingerprint locating one, AOA, the

future one, etc. are adopted by the operator, several steps in the flow above or several message primitives in the flow or several parameters in the messages may be selected according to the application.